Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia: A Guide to the Evidence

The Anscombe Centre, a Roman Catholic academic institute that engages with the moral questions arising in clinical practice and biomedical research, has published an ‘evidence guide’ in order to inform the debate about whether to legalize physician assisted suicide or euthanasia in the United Kingdom. Most of the sources cited here are also relevant to the debates on assisted suicide or euthanasia in other counties. It will help your to get a sense of the different issues at stake and where to find further information, especially the most reliable information that is freely available online. This guide aims to be useful for students, scholars and research assistants to officials or parliamentarians. More than this, it is offered to anyone who is concerned about these issues and wishes to assess the evidence.

The Anscombe Centre brings to bear on those questions principles of natural law, virtue ethics, and the teaching of the Catholic Church, and seeks to develop the implications of that teaching for emerging fields of practice. The Centre engages in scholarly dialogue with academics and practitioners of other traditions. It contributes to public policy debates as well as to debates and consultations within the Church. It runs educational programmes for, and gives advice to, Catholics and other interested healthcare professionals and biomedical scientists.